《就說你和他們一樣》是一個盧旺達小女孩的自述，故事背景是1994年盧旺達大屠殺。書名“就說你和他們一樣”就是小說裏一位母親為瞭保護她的孩子免受暴民所殺，而叮囑女兒的話。麵對圖西人和鬍圖人的暴戾爭端，小女孩隻記得母親最後的囑咐：無論任何人問起你的身份，記住，就說你和他們一樣。

“就說你和他們一樣”這句話背後有種為求生存而不得不妥協的悲慟，閱讀時就像在心裏投瞭一顆未爆炸彈般地感到沉重及震懾。在恐懼、同情及羞恥心的作用下，書中角色引發瞭我們內心強烈的無助感。或許我們沒有力量去改變什麼……可是，你至少能做到的是，珍惜，珍惜你所擁有的，更加愛自己，愛生活，更加幸福的活著。

Each story in this jubilantly acclaimed collection pays testament to the wisdom and resilience of children, even in the face of the most agonizing circumstances.

A family living in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya scurries to find gifts of any kind for the impending Christmas holiday. A Rwandan girl relates her family’s struggles to maintain a facade of normalcy amid unspeakable acts. A young brother and sister cope with their uncle’s attempt to sell them into slavery. Aboard a bus filled with refugees—a microcosm of today’s Africa—a Muslim boy summons his faith to bear a treacherous ride across Nigeria. Through the eyes of childhood friends the emotional toll of religious conflict in Ethiopia becomes viscerally clear.

Uwem Akpan’s debut signals the arrival of a breathtakingly talented writer who gives a matter-of-fact reality to the most extreme circumstances in stories that are nothing short of transcendent.

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就說你和他們一樣